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No. 622,265. Patented Apr. 4, |899.

' F. C. RIELY.

LETTER BOX.

(Appxicaeion filed Jan. 28, 1899.)

-fr'f (No Model.)

NrrED STATES vPATENT OFFICE.

FRANK O. RlELY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of LettersPatent No. 622,265, dated April 4,1899; Application lled January 28, 1899. Serial No. 703,697. (No model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK C. RIELY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements' in Letter-Boxes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is to provide improved indicatingdevices for letter-boxes so constructed, operated, and arranged as to,first7 indicate to the public the time when the mail in the box will benext collected; second, to inform the post-office authorities of theproper performance of the duties of the collector or his failure toperform them; third, to provide evidence in favor of an honestcollectorshould he be wrongfully charged with failure to make properVcollections, and, fourth, to inform the collector. of the unauthorizedopening of the box between his regular trips and to enable him to soreport. p

In carrying out my invention I attach to any ordinary letter-box, suchas a street letter-box, a receptacle filled with checks or cards onwhich are printed or inscribed -characters designating the hours ofcollection, the location of the box, and such other information as isnecessary or desirable. The front of the card-receptacle is open, and awindow is provided in the front of the box in line with the open end ofthe card-receptacle. A spring bears against the pack of cards andpresses them forward toward the window, so as to expose the front cardinthe pack to full view of the public. The ca-rds are all differentlyprinted, so far as the time of collection is concerned, and are arrangedin the receptacle in the order of collection, the card indicating thenext collection being always at the front of the pack and exposed toview while the other cards are concealed. When a collection is made, theact of opening'the door .causes a slide to be operated which engageslInthe accompanying drawings I have shown the best way now known to lneof carr'ying out my invention. The mechanism which I have illustrated isextremely simple in construction. It may be readily applied to anyletter-box at small cost and is absolutely reliable in operation.

Figure l is a front elevation of an ordinary letter-box with myimprovements applied. Some of the parts are broken away to expose otherparts and some of the mechanism is shown by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is adetail view,

on an enlarged scale, partly in front elevation and partly in section,of the front frame of the indicator, an indicator-card, and the slidewhich removes it from view and deposits it in the box. Fig. 3 is a`detail view, on an enlarged scale -and in longitudinal central section,showing. particularly the pack of cards, their receptacle, and themanner of se curing the front frame to the front of the leta ter-box.Fig. 4. is an enlarged perspective view of the slide or card-depositor.

The letter-box A may be of Vany approved design or construction. Theswinging door shown is of the kind now almost universally used in streetletter-boxes, and I have shown appropriate devices for connecting thisdoor with the slide which deposits the cards. I preferably locate thecard-receptacle B at the right-hand side, near the top of the box, justunder the curved cover ct. The cards C may be made of any vsuitablematerial-such as cardboard, Celluloid, metal, ccf-and are preferablyrectangular in shape. The receptacle B isof a cross-sectioncorresponding with the shape of the cards, which fit loosely there in,so as to slide freely forward. They are held erect and pressed forwardby-a spiral spring D, arranged in the rear end of the receptacle andpressing at one endagainst the back d of the receptacle or against theback of the letter-box, as the back d may be dispensed with. Thereceptacle B may be se4 cured permanently to the letter-box in anydesired way.

The front frame preferably has cast on its front face the words Nextcollection, and itis formed with a central rectangular .opening f,around the inner edge of which is formed a rearwardly-projectingrectangular frame f', which extends through an opening IOO a in theletter-box. The rear edge of the flange f is flush with the innersurface of the front of the box. The flange f' is formed withrearwardly-projecting arms f2, which are i'n turn provided withspring-fingers f3, secured to the arms at their rear ends and free attheir front ends.

Fig. 3 shows the spring-fingers expanded and locking the frame E inplace on the box, but the lingers may be readily collapsed or bentinward, and then the frame and the parts connected therewith may beremoved. In like manner the frame and the parts it supports may bereadily inserted into the opening d in the box, 110 bending of thefingers by the operator being necessary, as the fingers willautomatically 'collapse when the frame is pushed inward through theopening, and when the frame is in place the fingers will spring outwardto the position shown in Fig. 3, so as to lock the frame in the box, andit will be impossible to remove the frame without first unlocking thedoor A, so that the collector or some otherauthorized person may reachinto the box and collapse the fingers f3. The front card may restagainst a shoulder on the flange f or it may rest against a plate ofglass F', as shown in Fig. 3.

lThe front end of the receptacle B is arranged between the arms f2, butis not supported by these arms. G indicates the depositing-slide, whichmay be called the cardchanger.7 The front g of this slide is formed witha rectangular opening g', and it has two rearwardly-projecting parallelanges g2, arranged at right angles with the front. The lower edge of theopening g' is turned forward and inclined, so that the front card will-not balance on this edge when removed from the pack ot' cards and whilebeing lowered into the box. The slide G is arranged between the armsj2of the frame F in rear of the flange f. lt moves vertically in front ofthe front edge of the receptacle B, and its llanges g2 are guided by thefront portion of this receptacle, as shown in Fig. 3. The lower end ofthe slide is connected by a slot-andpin connection 7L with a link H, thelower end of which is pivotally connected with one of the sides a2 ofthe swinging door A. rlhe link H is curved or bent in itslower portionin order to give the proper leverage, and it extends down from the slideclose to the inside of the front ot the box and between the flange a2and the box, thus preventing any liability of mail-matter being caughtby the link or any interference on the part of the link with theremoval'of mail-matter from the box.

A card indicating the next collection is always exposed to view for thebenefit of the publie. The public is assured that the collectionindicated on the card has not been made, and therefore can determinewhether it is best to deposit a letter or to carry it to thepost-office. .Vhen the collector opens the box, the part-s of themechanism will be moved to the position shown by dotted lilies in Fig.l, the slide G being depressed and carrying with it the front card ofthe pack, which was pressed against the glass F.

It will be understood that the front card normally rests against theglass F and is located within the opening g ot the slide, so that whenthe slide moves downward the upper edge of the opening g' bears againstthe top of the card, and thus carries it down.

As soon as the slide G moves downwardly far enough to cause the upperend of the slot g' to descend below the bottom of the receptacle B thecard which it carries will drop into the letter-box and may be collectedand earried away by the collector and delivered at the post-office toindicate that he has made a collection at the proper time at the box indicated on the card.

In the act of closing the door A' the slide G will be raised, and assoon as the opening g' comes into line with the opening in thereceptacle the pack of cards will be pressed vforward by the spring D,and the front card, which r'ests against the glass F', will be withinthe opening g', the upper edge of the card bcing in line with the upperedge of this open-' ing. The card remains in this position until thedoor is next opened at the next collection, when it will be deposited inthe box and collected when the box is next opened.

A large number ot cards may be placed in the receptacle and arranged inorder to indieate successively the several collections for successivedays. Each card should be inscribed in some way to indicate the locationof the box and the time of the next collection. Care should be taken toarrange the cards in proper order. lVhen the supply ol' cards isexhausted, the collector or solne other authorized person may open thebox, compress the springs f3, and remove the front frame F and the partsconnected therewith. This will expose the front of the receptacle B, anda pack of cards may be inserted and pushed back against the force of thespring D. The frame F may then be quickly forced inward and locked andthe indicator is then ready for continuous automatic operation withoutfurther attention until the supply of cards is exhausted.

1t will be observed that the mechanism is extremely simple. It is notliable to get out of order. It is entirely automatic, being opcratedevery time that the collector performs the necessary operation ofopening the door of the box. lt cannot possibly be operated byunauthorized persons, and furnishes complete evidence of the manner inwhich the collector performs his duties, thus doing away largely withthe employment of special agents or detectives to inspect letter-boxes.

The letter-box which I have shown indicates at K a receptacle for theusual card indicating the hours of collection; butby my IOO IIO

improvements I can dispense entirely with this frame and with the cards.Heretofore this has been a matter of considerable expense. The precisemanner of delivering the cards from their receptacle is not of vitalimportance. If my indicator should be applied to another kind of boxhaving a different kind of door, -the connections between the door andthe card-changer or card-deliverer would of course be modified.

The receptacle B does not interfere with the fall of mail-matter fromthe opening to the bottom of the box; but to provideagainst'any possibleobjection on this account I may arrange an inclined guide or shield X inthe box over the receptacle, as indicated in Fig. 1 by dotted lines.

So far as I am aware no one has ever heretofore produced a letter-boxindicator in which a card to be collected by the collector is de,-posited each time that a box is opened, and therefore while I considerthe mechanism which I have illustrated simple, efficient, and

novel, and Wish to claim it in detail, Iwish also to claim, broadly,mechanism for depositing a card in the box to be collected by thecollector each time that the box is opened for the removal of mail.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination with a letter-box having adoor, of a card-receptacle, a series of cards therein, and mechanismconnected with the door and card-receptacle for delivering a card fromthe receptacle and depositing itinside the box each time that the box isopened.

2. The combination with a letter-box, ot' acard-receptacle, a series ofcards therein, a card-changer and connections between the card-changerand the door of the box, so constructed and arranged as to shift thecardchanger when the door is opened and cause a link connecting thecard-changing slide with the hinged door.

4. The combination with a letter-box having a door for the removal ofmail, a card-receptacle within the box, a series of cards therein, meansfor pressing the pack of cards forward toward an opening in the front ofthe box, a vertically-reciprocating slide and a link connecting theslide with the hinged door.

5. The combination with a letter-box having a hinged door provided withinwardly-projecting iianges, of a card-receptacle, aseries of cardstherein, a vertically-reciprocatin g slide, and a link connected withthe slide and extending downwardly along the front of the box, andbetween the front of the box and the front iiange on the door to whichlatter it is pivotally connected.

6. The combination of a letter-box having a door, a card-receptaclearranged therein,'a front frame extending through an opening in thefront of the box, in line with the open front end of thecard-receptacle, a verticallymoving flanged slide arranged between thefront end of the receptacle and the rear end of the frame, and meansconnected with the door of the letter-box for operating the slide.

7. The combination with a letter-box, of a card-receptacle, a frontframe extending through 'an opening in the box in line with the frontopening of the card-receptacle, rearwardlyprojecting arms on the frameprovided with spring-fingers, a vertically-moving slide arranged betweenthe arms and the sides of the front end of the card-receptacle, and alink connecting the slide with the door of the letter-box.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

A FRANK C. RIELY.

Witnesses:

LLOYD B. WIGHT, GUsTAvUs B. MAYNADIER.

